So Heather had a thing tonight, and I decided to entertain myself with a trip to Berkeley. I used to go up there every other day, when I lived a block from a train station, but now I have to drive and, more importantly, find parking, so I go far less frequently. I went to Au Coquelet, with nothing in my bag but the printout of Rangergirl and my iPod. I got some good coffee, plugged in my 'phones, and started line-editing my heart out. Made good progress, did about 40 single-spaced pages, and only have about 30 left to go, and then that's it (unless my editor wants more changes) until copyediting. Should finish up in a day or two.

Working away from home gave me a lot of energy. Around the house it's sometimes too easy to get distracted, to start reading or playing games or cleaning or engaging in other forms of writing-avoidance-behavior. I ran into strangebint at the café (she was also working), and we talked about the occasional impossibility of being productive at home. Though she can at least blame her distraction on the dogs...

Hmm. Life is pretty good. I'm re-reading Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, and it's as beautiful and witty and intricate as ever. Sunday we went shopping, bought some books, strolled on Piedmont Ave. We bought the cats a new scratching post/house (one of these, pretty much, the middle one), since their old house was too small and scratched down to bare wood. They love it. We watched Rashomon last night (Heather had never seen it), and I was struck anew by how astonishing the cinematography is, the visual poetry of it all, from the rain on the gate to the medium's contortions, the way the shots are framed. Just stunning.

Today was nice. My boss fed us great piles of food today, turkey and cranberry sauce and stuffing and gravy and potatoes. It's beginning to look a lot like the holidays. Tonight I read volume 4 of Y: The Last Man, and it's still quite good. It seems to have a true overall plot-arc, something I've always liked about Vertigo titles.

We're looking forward to a quiet holiday weekend. I'll cook some turkey, we'll watch movies, it'll be grand, very low-key and relaxed. I've got a five-day weekend coming up, and it doesn't get much better than that.